Nephilim (Devil May Cry)
The Nephilim are a race of hybrid beings within DmC: Devil May Cry continuity. They are the offspring of angels and demons; and are thus considered "the third race."DmC: Devil May Cry, Phineas: "The Nephilim were the third race, sadly they were hunted down, and slain." However, despite being equally powerful than either race alone, the Nephilim are a severely endangered species - as any and all known existing Nephilim were hunted down and slain by demons out of fear of their power. There are only two Nephilim known to currently exist: Dante and Vergil, the twin sons of Sparda and Eva. Description Due to their hybrid nature, Nephilims possess both demonic and angelic powers, and are capable of crossing between the worlds.DmC: Devil May Cry, Phineas: "They wielded the power of both angels and demons. But, unlike them, the Nephilim could easily cross worlds." Due to their special nature, they are the only ones strong enough to slay the Demon King.DmC: Devil May Cry, Vergil: "Demon father, angel mother, we are Nephilim, the only ones who can slay the demon king." Because of this, and his demon hordes waged a war of genocide on the Nephilim and wiped them all out, as well as declaring it a crime for a demon to produce offspring with an angel. Despite this, Mundus's blood-brother fell in love with the angel and fathered the twins and . In response to this betrayal, Mundus stormed Sparda's home, murdering Eva and eventually imprisoning Sparda. Before he was captured, Sparda was able to hide his sons Dante and Vergil, and although Mundus was aware of Dante's existence, he never discovered that Vergil was also a child of Sparda and thus a Nephilim. Mundus kept looking for Dante, and his Lookers eventually found him at Devil's Dalliance. However, the Hunter sent after Dante is slain by Dante with Kat's help, and this spurs Dante to assist in order to gain revenge on Mundus for destroying his family. During his journey, Dante encounters the slain Nephilim Assiel, from whom he receives a relic that allows him to unlock his Devil Trigger. Abilities As the only known living Nephilim are Dante and Vergil, the full range of their abilities are unknown, although considerable. As a rule they seem to possess certain common abilities, such as the ability to jump a second time in mid-air with demonic magic as well as preternatural strength, agility, coordination, precision and regenerative abilities. The most notable powers of the Nephilim comes from their hybrid blood, combining the powers of angels and demons, which they can switch between at will. These include the ability to use angelic and demonic weapons. They can also glide like angels, although true flight does not seem to be one of their abilities as they do not possess either angelic or demonic wings. They can also perform two kinds of dodges, based on which powers they are using at the time; a Demon Dodge grants their next blows greater power, while an Angel Dodge increases their reaction speed and causes them to instantaneously teleport through Limbo and back again, allowing them to quickly flank their enemies. Nephilim also possess the ability to increase their power tremendously via the Devil Trigger which, despite its name, unleashes, or at least manifests, the full force of both their angelic and demonic abilities. The effects of this power seem to vary, but generally makes the Nephilim stronger and regenerate its health quicker. Beyond this, the Devil Trigger powers that have been shown include unleashing chaos into the world to freeze enemies in mid air (in the case of Dante) or summoning a spectral doppelganger of the Nephilim to aid it in battle (as with Vergil). In addition to these powers, it seems that Nephilim can possess some form of teleportation powers, as demonstrated by Vergil. He was also able to summon ghostly swords by depleting his Devil Trigger gauge. Whether this power was unique to him or can be used by all Nephilim is unknown. It seems that the spirits of Nephilim can endure beyond death, as in the case of Assiel. Her spirit lingered in a giant statue of herself, and awoke when Dante encountered it. Phineas stated that, even after unlocking his Devil Trigger, Dante had still not reached his full potential, implying that Nephilim may possess much greater levels of power than has been displayed by them so far. Background are giants which appear in the Old Testament. They are the offspring of the "sons of God", i.e. fallen angels, and the "daughters of men", i.e. human women. This differs from the DmC definition of Nephilim as the offspring of angels and demons. They were considered the heroes of old, possessed of great strength and size, and were thought to inhabit Canaan. Several apocryphal texts finger their existence as one of God's reasons for flooding the Earth as they had become too numerous and too violent. Notes and references Category:Devil May Cry races Category:Fictional hybrid life forms Category:Fictional half-angels Category:Fictional half-demons